The 2014 Ram 2500 is like a real-lifestyle Tonka toy with a 17,450 lb tow rating. Photo by Ram.

Our Autoweek tester had a price tag tag of $ 67,175, following all the choices. Photograph by Ram.

A appear at the interior of the 2014 Ram 2500. Photo by Ram.

Underneath the hood, the 2014 Ram 2500 sports activities a 6.7-liter turbocharged diesel I6 engine, good for 350-hp and 660 lb-ft of torque. Photograph by Ram.

ASSOCIATE EDITOR GRAHAM KOZAK: This 2014 Ram 2500 Laramie Limited Crew Cab is a actually large truck. It truly is a true-lifestyle Tonka toy with a 17,450-pound tow rating. I really like it.

I had a possibility to mess about with the Ram Hefty Duties final 12 months, when the crew at Chrysler thoughtfully turned their proving ground into a big playground for performing Truck Things: Hauling bales of hay, pulling hefty agricultural equipment, driving more than bumpy roads, and so on. It’;s not surprising that the Rams excelled in that far more or significantly less managed environment. What is surprising is that the trucks also excel in the wild — which is to say, on the streets of suburbia.

Driver self confidence is nearly assumed with a motor vehicle of this dimension. It is the comfort element that catches you off guard. The trip is not as refined as that of the new full-size Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra or the Ram 1500 there are jostles and bumps and you drive over potholes, even though the good news is, much less lean in the corners than I’;d expected given the ride h7

This crew cab’;s proportions are intimidating (offered current trends, I’;m confident the following generation of complete-sized pickups will be equivalent), but you adjust incredibly quickly. Inside a couple of miles I was whipping the truck by way of Michigan lefts, into parking lots and up my extremely narrow driveway (electrical power-folding mirrors would have been a welcome addition here).

Inside, you are handled to a practical cabin dressed up with leather and wood. Seats are comfy. The view is commanding. Almost everything you might want, which includes the extremely beneficial shift-on-the-fly 4WD mode selector, is inside easy attain.

Frankly, I could do with no the fancy trimmings I’;d enjoy to try a stripped-down Tradesman truck on for dimension. But for a person who depends on their automobile for their livelihood, I could see the extra expense being justifiable at least which is the line marketers like to drop. And anybody who would like to blow virtually $ 70K on a truck just to present off? Hey, it truly is America. Do whatever you want. Just discover to park it correctly.

Also justifiable, based on your anticipated workload, is that 6.7-liter Cummins turbodiesel. It’;s a double-get-inducing add-on at virtually $ 8K, but the output is extraordinary with a whopping 800 lb-ft of torque from one,600 rpm. The Hemi-equipped trucks are not precisely slugs, but if you attempt the 2 side by side, the Cummins is plainly a lot more satisfying. And then there are the fuel economy gains, which are somewhat hard to quantify as no official figures have been released. If the built-in pc is accurate, although, I returned nearly 16 mpg in mixed city/highway driving, with 4WD engaged for a excellent part of that.

When I final drove the Ram heavy duties, I was — possibly pretty — accused of gushing about them. Possibly I’;m carrying out that once again, but if anything, I would say I came away from a weekend of actual-planet driving even a lot more impressed with them. Of program, I have to note that other domestic automakers are also capable of constructing really great hefty duty pickups. For now, however, Ram would seem to supply the most enticing, roundly satisfying large-truck bundle.

SENIOR Road Test EDITOR NATALIE NEFF: Graham, you can have your stripped-down Tradesman truck I will take a beast like this, gussied up with all the fixins that, back in the day, no “real” hefty-duty would be caught dead in: 20-inch polished aluminum wheels, energy 10-way driver seat with memory, keyless entry, and so forth. Certainly, give me all this Laramie trim with all $ 13,000 well worth of possibilities, such as the luxury (sic) floor mats.

And even then this Ram is a mite lacking, if only for one crucial piece of gear. These purty chrome-clad trailer-tow mirrors are only manual-fold versions. Make mine electrical power-retractable, please. That would make this big-ol’; Ram monster truck near to perfection on wheels.

No doubt the by no means-ending snow-a-thon that this winter has wreaked had me enjoying this truck more than I may well at, say, the height of summer season. All I know is the couple of occasions I climbed up into its pre-warmed (thank you, remote start), leather-draped (Okay, mine would be pleather-draped) cabin and manufactured my way down Woodward Avenue to the workplace, I could not aid but dial up the 4-wheel-drive and plow by means of every intersection sideways, letting no matter what wheel that could muster traction through the knee-substantial piles of slush and snow do its issue, the 6.6-liter Cummins turbodiesel feeding limitless amounts of torque to individuals giant tires, hands flying opposite lock and back once more, watching the road ahead by means of the side glass and yelling “Yippee!” to all individuals suckers floundering in mere autos about me. If absolutely nothing else, this hefty-duty Ram is a hoot.

Parking, on the other hand, not so considerably. It truly is not for a lack of assist the Laramie trim comes with regular rear backup camera, and the front, effectively, that is what enormous bumpers are for, appropriate? But just managing a 90-degree flip demands a wide berth (turning diameter is nearly 47 feet), whilst its 79.1-inch width implies passing on each and every opening amongst that crookedly parked Honda Odyssey and off-center Chevy Cruze for the spacious hinterlands of strip mall-dom and hoofing it into Target.

Okay, that about sums up my complaints about the 2014 Ram 2500. It’;s tough to park.